executive transition

Executive Transition Part II: Preparing Your Executive

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If you missed part I of our series on executive transition, click here to read more about how to prepare for planned or unplanned c-suite changes.

Last time, we discussed how to prepare your organization for an executive transition. Because stakeholders watch these types of big transformations carefully for any signs, positive or negative, of what the future will bring, it is crucial to take the necessary steps to get everyone on the same page.

By far, the most important element of a successful c-suite transition is properly preparing your executive. This is where investor relations officers and communicators really earn their keep. Both roles play a critical role in supporting and enabling a successful executive transition.

Prepare to prepare your new executive.

First, take some time to gather key resources to help your new executive transition smoothly. For instance, create a portfolio including the most recent corporate overview, key messaging statements, shareholder overview, previous public statements, an analysis of the competitive landscape, key events/timing, etc.

Next, before you begin strategizing, put yourself in the shoes of your new executive. Ask yourself and your team crucial questions, for example: Is the new leader, whether interim or permanent, an internal hire or will she need to be brought up to speed on your organization’s culture?

Keep in mind that while the new executive may have been brought on to accomplish specific goals, the more she knows about the organization as a whole, the better able she will be to accomplish these specific goals. So, don’t be afraid to ask the new executive what support she needs from you during this transition period.

Answers to these questions will help you better enable your new executive to smoothly enter her new role. Once you’ve asked and answered these critical questions, you can now put yourself in the shoes of your key stakeholder groups and begin the hard work of prepping your executive for the transition:

1. Define key messages.

As discussed last week, executive transition = risk. Our communications goal throughout this process is to make the change appear less risky, insofar as possible. An orderly transition will give investors, employees, and customers confidence that the company, whether public or non-public, is in control of the transition.

What does this look like in practice? It means, at a minimum, defining key messages around the following: (a) any insight you can provide into the reasons for the change, (b) why the new executive is the right hire at the right time, and (c) reinforcement of key company strategic messages.

(a) Why did the previous C-suite executive leave?

Present a clear rationale for the change, whether it was by choice or not. That said, word choice in describing the transition is absolutely important. Aim for language that is natural, concise, and respectful to all transitioning parties.

Keep in mind that communications during this time can be a delicate balancing act between signaling Board control over the transition, legal sensitivities, and acknowledging organization strategy. So, be prepared for (and even welcome) multiple perspectives as this verbiage works through internal approval processes.

Even under the best of circumstances, there will be speculation about why the previous executive left. This makes it even more important to ensure that lines of communication are clear. Transparency will ensure that the company isn’t perceived as holding back information from stakeholders.

Whatever words you choose, be sure to avoid anything that makes transition communications appear confusing or bitter, as this can stoke speculation, spook investors and employees, and make for a generally unproductive business environment.

(b) Why is the new executive the right hire at the right time?

It’s important to have a clear message about why the new c-suite executive is the right man or woman to take on the job. Discuss the strategic criteria for this hire. What differentiates your executive from his or her peers? Leverage any previous experience leading similar organizations or leading through similar market changes.

Especially if this transition was unexpected, anything you can say to emphasize that your new executive has been preparing to step into this ideal position at this moment, is helpful. Don’t be afraid to think big here. Talk to your Board and your new executive about his vision for the future of the company and find creative ways to work that into your messaging.

(c) How does this support the company’s strategy?

Finally, make sure to re-emphasize the company strategy. This applies whether the overall strategy is changing (e.g., because the previous CEO was fired due to poor performance in shifting market conditions) or the basic strategy is staying the same, while the new leader is free to make small tweaks to business operations.

Either way, it’s a good time to revisit the corporate vision and mission to remind stakeholders that the fundamentals will remain solid through this period of transition. Bonus points for showing how the new executive has demonstrated strengths in key strategic areas.

2. Allow for acclimation.

To the extent possible, give your executive some time to get her feet on the ground and learn more about how the organization runs. Most executives will want at least a 30-day transition period. However, depending on the business circumstances this is not always possible. It’s best to be upfront with your executive about the timeframe from the beginning.

At the very least, be sure to carve out time before key meetings with employees, investors, and customers to prepare. Discuss the stakeholder group personalities, hot buttons, previous conversations/promises/expectations, and the competitive environment.

3. Consider key prep strategies.

Initial interactions with key stakeholders should reflect: (a) reasons the executive chose your organization and (b) assurance that the early stages will be about listening to key stakeholders to best understand their view and expectations for the organization.

If possible, it is a great idea to organize listening sessions with stakeholder groups during this transitional period. These sessions, can provide your executive with the opportunity to hear directly from employees, top shareholders, and key customers and get them out of the “headquarters bubble.” It can also demonstrate that the company is committed to listening to diverse perspectives during this time of transition.

If your company is public, it’s crucial to prep your new executive on RegFD, especially your firm’s policies regarding RegFD and the quiet period. Make certain that your executive is prepped to handle impromptu questions (in the elevator, at a conference, etc.) by returning to their key message of why he took the job and his commitment to listening to stakeholders for the first 30-60 days.

Along these lines, roleplay likely Q&A with key stakeholder groups. Remind your executive that it’s better to stick to what she knows even if it means not fully answering the question, than going off-script and saying something inaccurate.

As much as you aim to control communications, though, there will be questions, calls, emails sent to IR, CEO, CFO, CCO, anyone who can be reached. Make sure that appropriate communications roles are established and shared. Generally speaking, it is safest to have all questions routed to media relations and investor relations. From there, you can assess and engage your executive as appropriate.

4. Consider your best public introduction strategy.

Is an industry-specific trade show or other important event coming up? This might offer a good opportunity to introduce your new executive in a lower key environment and have key customer or partner intro meetings. These types of events are also good opportunities to conduct initial media interviews.

Do you need more time for your executive to get her feet on the ground? Discuss and agree on a timeframe to set market expectations. Then make sure this information is broadly communicated to key channels through press releases, 8-Ks, internal messaging, etc.

For example, you might include a sentence in an employee update that says, “Jane Doe expects to be meeting with our key customer accounts over the next 30 days and will visit our major employee population centers over the next 90 days.” When speaking to external stakeholders, set expectations with a comment such as, “John Doe will participate in XYZ conference/earnings call/investor day/etc. during the next few months.”

When it comes to ushering in a successful executive transition, there are several moving parts to keep in mind. As complicated as executive transitions can be, they are also exciting times for companies.

It definitely pays to think through your strategy and prepare your executive. Audacia Strategies can help make your executive transition as smooth as possible. We’d love to work with your team to develop the right strategy and outreach plan. Contact us to get started!

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Executive Transition - Handshake

Executive Transition Part I: Planning is Not Optional

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Stakeholders can learn a lot from watching an organization go through executive transition. Handled well, c-suite transitions impart confidence in the organization and its future direction. Handled poorly, leadership changes can alert investors to bigger issues within the organization, whether material or merely perceived.

The c-suite (i.e., CEO/CFO, for our purposes today) is the public face of an organization. According to the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual study on global trust and credibility, 43% of people say that they trust the CEO as the spokesperson of the company.

Executives embody the credibility of the company. There is a good reason transition of these key leadership roles is watched so closely: as the c-suite goes, so goes the health of a corporation.

In Part I of this two-part series, we’ll talk about the planning and announcement of an executive transition. Stay tuned for Part II when we’ll discuss how to prep your new executive for primetime.

Executive Transition = Financial Risk

We all know there could be any number of perfectly benign reasons for an executive to choose to leave a particular company, knowing this doesn’t make an executive transition any less of a risk in the eyes of stakeholders.

While you may feel energized by the winds of change blowing through your organization, from the perspective of an investor or a customer, a change in leadership introduces an unknown variable, which is just a different way of saying financial risk.

When the current CEO is performing well, there are questions about whether her successor will be able to maintain the momentum. When the current CEO Is performing poorly, there are questions about how quickly her successor might be able to turn things around.

A leadership change can also be unsettling to employees, since the CEO is the cultural leader of an organization. So transitions also raise questions about the cost to organizations in terms of human capital.

Since all eyes are on you, c-suite transitions are really make or break. It’s so important for these types of big changes to be planned and carefully orchestrated. Okay, let’s talk strategy!

2 Types of Transitions: Planned and Unplanned

There are really just two types of c-suite transitions: planned and unplanned. You should have a plan either way! (Now is probably a good time to review my recent post on Crisis Management.)

There are unique challenges associated with each type, but with the right transition strategy in place, you will be equipped to manage unfolding events as much as possible.

1. Planned Executive Transitions.

If you have the luxury of knowing that a c-suite transition will take place, make sure you have a plan to communicate and acclimate external stakeholders (e.g., shareholders, customers), as well as employees.

While executive transition is generally viewed as a risk, there are steps you can take to minimize the risk in the eyes of investors. A well-considered transition plan indicates a healthy corporate succession plan aligned to the company’s stated strategy.

Additionally, if you have the benefit of time and a transition period of anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, it’s an opportunity to engineer a smooth hand-off between executives.

Joint meetings with current and interim leadership, as well as investors, customers, and employees are a strong signal of organizational health during transition. Consider what will infuse your audience with the most confidence.

2. Unplanned Executive Transitions

If a CEO/CFO must step down unexpectedly, be prepared. This means being ready to communicate quickly, transparently, and as completely as possible. At the very least, I recommend having the interim leader identified along with his qualifications as soon as possible and preferably simultaneous with the transition announcement.

You should also discuss the Board’s search process for a permanent leader and criteria for the next leader. Also, discuss Board strategy—particularly, if the transition is a result of the Board wishing to move in a new direction. If possible, a broad timeline for a decision will also help calm stakeholders as there will be key milestones and communications to watch.

It’s always important to communicate as much as possible, as transparently as possible. But during times of executive transition, strong communication is absolutely essential. Communications that appear to be less than forthcoming and/or light on path forward will only breed rumors and ramp up perceived risk.

Keep this quote at the forefront of your communications strategy:

“If you don’t give people information, they will make up something to fill the void.” – Carla O’Dell, Ph.D., President, American Productivity & Quality Center

There will be questions, calls, emails sent to IR, CEO, CFO, CCO, and anyone who can be reached. Make sure that appropriate communications roles are established and shared. This responsibility will generally fall to media relations and investor relations.

Don’t forget about timing

Whether your executive transition has been a long time coming or out of the blue, your communications strategy for transitions should also include strategies around timing. In corporate communications, timing really is everything.

For instance, unexpected transitions raise questions about an organization’s financial health. One way to ease this concern is to consider timing the transition announcement to coincide with a quarterly release. If such timing is impossible, reaffirm or refer to previous transition strategies with which stakeholders are familiar.

It’s also important to announce the transition to employees, simultaneous with an external release. If you announce internally and externally at different times, rumors will fly compounding concerns about who is really steering the ship.

I recommend going so far as to have a specific employee communication plan to address key cultural characteristics and how the c-suite transition will affect the organization from a big picture perspective. When your executive is up to it, set up a town hall meeting where employees can be formally introduced to the new face of the company and have their questions answered.

Next week: we dig deeper into how to prep your executive (interim or permanent) for a successful transition.

In the meantime, if your organization is gearing up for an expected or unexpected transition, Audacia Strategies is here for you. Having the right strategy in place will convert your transition into a transformation. Contact us today to set up your consultation session.

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earnings

Surprise! Your Earnings Suck. Now What?

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Having to announce disappointing earnings to investors is a unique challenge. No one likes to be the bearer of bad news, but bad quarters happen to all companies. That said, Wall Street doesn’t like surprises (positive or negative, but especially negative).

Surprises damage corporate credibility and can have long-lasting effects beyond just a challenging quarter or two. So it’s crucial to find the right strategy for dealing with these types of surprises.

Maybe the quarterly earnings looked decent until an auditor discovered a previously overlooked error in revenue reporting. Or maybe raw materials costs suddenly spiked. Or perhaps that big anticipated contract evaporated. Whatever the reason, as you see the numbers coming in and it dawns on you that your earnings suck, you may be tempted to run and hide.

There is a better solution though. I promise!

First, don’t forget about situational awareness.

You might recall that I’m a big believer in situational awareness. No, it’s not a magic wand you can wave to turn lead into gold. Still, reporting quarterly earnings in the context of your company, your competitors, and the market is important. If nothing else, it shows analysts, traders, and investors that you have your eye on the right metrics.

Also, if a market shift due to a materials shortage, for example, affected your competitors’  earnings as much as your own earnings, that is relevant information to note during an earnings call with investors.

Your number one priority, though, should be ensuring the clarity of your message and maintaining transparency with investors. While it can be challenging (okay, downright painful) in the short-run, it will pay dividends over the long-term as it can stabilize challenges to credibility.

Let’s discuss the best strategies for revealing less than stellar earnings:  

Now that you’ve done your homework to place your earnings in context, it’s time to face the music. While you cannot soften the blow, you can take steps to maintain credibility and goodwill moving forward.

1. Don’t sugar-coat.

It does no good to play up the good news and ignore the elephant in the room, so don’t sugar-coat or whitewash unequivocally bad news. If mistakes were made, own up to them. Talk about what you plan to do to respond and recover over the course of the next quarter or longer.

Be prepared to discuss the ways in which this challenge has made you reevaluate your business strategy and/or structure. Be tangible. Be candid. And, whenever possible, be quantitative. Don’t take a blow to the chin unnecessarily, but be clear about whether the impact is indicative of an ongoing strategic or structural challenge.

In preparing for these conversations, I find it helpful to think like an analyst and ask hard questions of yourself and your team during your earnings preparation process:

  • Hold up the magnifying glass and go over every line item if necessary, until you are confident you understand what went wrong.
  • Ask the hard questions about the quality of your business forecasting process.
  • Get an understanding of the “early warning” indicators that might have helped or might help in the future.
  • Be ready to answer uncomfortable questions from emotional investors like, “How could you not have known about this sooner?” or “What else don’t you know about?” or “So, what will be the next shoe to drop?”

Now is not the time to be defensive. Now is a time to be clear, concise, and aware in your message to and interactions with your shareholders.

2. Engage the team.

You have probably already tapped into the resources of your audit team, legal team, and C-suite. But don’t forget about those running the operations and working directly with customers.

These folks working “on the ground” in your operations or interacting with customers on a daily basis may be able to shed some helpful color on the situation. Take the opportunity to sit down with those who have more direct contact with what’s driving the numbers on your spreadsheets. Consider how this color can inform your earnings release and any forward-looking discussion.

3. Consider a pre-announcement.

If you have a material miss of market expectations on your hands, you may want to consider pre-announcing prior to your full earnings release. A pre-announcement is exactly what it sounds like, an announcement of results (to the extent they are available) before the full earnings release. Generally, this release will occur 2 to 4 weeks prior to a scheduled earnings announcement.

To be clear, there is no SEC requirement to disclose. However, many on the Street believe that a company has an obligation to warn investors if it will fall materially short of expectations. This is true even if your company does not issue formal earnings guidance.

The benefit to a pre-announcement is that it sends a message to the Street that you are sharing information in a timely fashion and gives comfort that the company isn’t keeping material information from investors.

However, there are legal intricacies surrounding corporate guidance (or lack thereof) and acknowledgement of consensus numbers. Pre-announcement can be a controversial issue for many companies and should be thoughtfully considered beforehand.

Look, an earnings surprise is hard and managing the disclosure isn’t easy. Your stock price will likely take a hit and you and your management team will need to have some challenging conversations.

At the end of the day, markets trade on future value and the reality is that future value takes a hit when earnings come in at less than expected. Your goal during this process is to maintain effective dialogue with the Street to communicate your firm’s future prospects and that requires credibility, transparency, and candor. You’ve got this.

We’ve got a great team at Audacia Strategies and we’ve helped companies navigate corporate crises like this before. We can’t make bad earnings disappear, but we can come up with a strategy for maintaining credibility and moving past the temporary crisis. Contact us today to schedule a complimentary consultation.

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